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RUNWAY RYOHEI: The Unedited English Version

(A Glamorous [daw] Fic by BEAFSTAKES)

NIHIL OBSTAT: I don't own Reborn. Nor I'm a fashionista. Except for the names you never read elsewhere, characters are owned by Amano Akira-sensei.

IMPRIMATUR: This is the 'unedited' English version of my first Reborn fanfic. By 'unedited' I mean this is the meaner, more profound, straight-to-the-brain and uncensored version. If you're a Filipino and you haven't read any vulgarity in the entire story, then this version will be a challenge for you. This is also an AU fic, no mafia or rings involved. And beware of their OOC-nes, lol. Anyway, I inspired to write this after watching America's Next Top Model and reading Fashion Fade on MangaReader. And you're wondering why I used Vongola's resident boxer as the main man in this story, to simply put, he's my favorite character. Well explanations done, let's get the runway burning to the extreme!

By the way: I have to put this first in DeviantArt because I'm still looking for beta readers. YES people, beta readers. I suck at writing in English. And also, since this has the Original Tagalog Version might as well post those too. So hope you enjoy and NO FLAMES PLEASE!

EDITOR'S NOTES

You're probably wondering why I started my column today this way, by introducing a great man, and for me he's the greatest I've ever met, since he's responsible why I landed in this job. I met him ten years ago.

At first glance, I thought of him as any juvenile delinquent I encounter during my last year in middle school. Well that was my first impression when I first saw him jogging around the neighborhood in the morning. He has this weird, strong aura which you just can't get close to him that easily. It proved true when sometimes I saw him running around the whole neighborhood blindfolded and he didn't miss any step, and he does it almost every morning and afternoon. Does he have a third eye or what! It really convinced me first that this guy's as scary as hell. But as the years had passed, I was proved wrong.

Sometimes I see him with a younger girl, whom I guessed his sister, along with younger guys hanging around him and they mostly go to school together, and they are the only people who I could recall his only friends. I couldn't help but to wonder if these people are really as close as I thought that they weren't even scared of him. That was probably the times which he gives himself a break aside from jogging around with eyes closed.

But when the Inter-school Boxing Tournament came, it never crossed to my mind that I will meet him in that place. During that time Namimori Middle School advanced to the final round after a certain sophomore knocked down our representative in the first round. His name was Sasagawa Ryohei...

And it came to me with a shock that he was actually the guy I always see in the morning jogging around the area. Sasagawa Ryohei—the youngest Captain ever appointed in the history of Namimori Boxing Club. Since then he was feared throughout Kantou Prefecture.

Since that tournament I couldn't help but wondering about what he can really do, so I thought of doing a secret research about him. According to some, he started boxing since his sixth grade and had been undefeated for four years. Some say he has the strength of a hundred lions, that he even punched a lion on their school trip, thus earned the monicker 'The Lion Puncher of Namimori'. He was also known as a man without limits, no one can guess his weakness, and not even my research skills gave me help. So although it was a bit late I decided to join the Journalism Club, just to have even a single chance of having Ryohei to an interview...

But I never had that chance until two years ago.

On my first year of high school I noticed that I rarely see Ryohei around. Not even a shadow of him can be seen running in the area. I still see his friends back then but they don't have him around. It made me worried about a certain person I haven't really met face to face. I wanted to ask his friends but damn, who am I to ask about a guy who doesn't do anything about me? I never saw him again, even until our family moved to another town after Dad got a promotion in the publishing company.

Despite what happened to Ryohei, I still decided to continue my dream on becoming a journalist. I didn't left Journalism Club in my middle school and high school. I've been the Editor-in-Chief of their school organ during my last years, then entered in a good university which I still signed up for a school paper and earned a degree in Journalism. Getting a job was smooth for me since my dad has connections with the publishing stuff, and landed a job in Hare-Hare Daily, the most popular title in Tokyo. After six years in the industry I'm now the associate editor, and I enjoyed it despite tough moments with press releases and other stuff...

Until one press conference made me see him again after eight years.

A press conference and party was held in one of the big hotels in Tokyo in celebration of victory earned by then WBF International Bantamweight Champion who was our country's representative. It was odd, I don't know who that was despite being a man of the press, probably being too busy proofreading articles and interviews and gathering sources—until the boss and I were invited to that event to have a chance to interview the champion. When I asked him who he is, he almost laughed at me and answered, "Don't you know Sasagawa Ryohei! He's the one I'm talking about a week ago, the model-athlete who just won the WBF Bantamweight Championship in Las Vegas two days ago! Were you even listening?"

I was speechless.

So that was happened to him after eight years: he hit the road to become Japan's Number One Boxer and at the same time one of the most after-sought models of his generation which was a surprising twist in his part. I never pictured him as a ramp and commercial model when I first saw him, and for me it was an eye-popping fact that he can and he will conquer the runway too. During the press conference and I was given a chance to ask him how and why he also entered the modeling industry, he just said it was a long story, a story which he still haven't forgotten ten years ago despite admitting that he has the tendency to forget even his own birthday. For that, after the conference I was surprised that one of his executives approached me and to me to see their Boss in person. Wondering, I just followed and there he was, waiting for me...

And he told me everything.

I even asked why he was telling his story to me who had never met in his life. He said, and to my surprise, that he can't be wrong that he saw me ten years ago in the Interschool Tournament. There I revealed to him that I've been watching him since I first saw him around Namimori Town. Flattered at my admittance, he told me why he suddenly disappeared then. He admitted something that really shocked me, and how he was able to cope with it and be on the top where he is today. Then he invited me to dinner with his family a week later.

After that meeting I was determined to make a special feature about him, which I proposed it to the Editor-in-Chief, but he found it impossible until two years later because of his commercial shoot and for his upcoming fight six months at that time. It was only three months before his 26th birthday when the Editor gave me a go-signal to make a special feature about Ryohei in our weekly magazine. He made me in-charge of creating a biographical magazine to be published on his birthday on August 26. I instantly carried the job after the appointment in my excitement.

For three months we worked on the feature by making contact and interviewed the people behind his success and failures, those who made him as who he is now. And the result is this special edition magazine of Hare Hare Daily which we gave to you, being also responsible for making this happen. As a certified Ryohei fan myself I'm telling you now that he's one miracle man, a down-to-earth and simple person who only wanted to become the best boxer in this country but also took another route that changed his life after ten years. He is, for sure, the sun that forever shines whose rays can penetrate even the darkest of the clouds. A lion that remains strong to survive. A man with a heart that perpetually sets ablaze until God himself will cease it.

For questions, comments or suggestions, email me at irieminieminymo (at) yeahbah (dot) com (dot) jp.

(So there you go, people! By the way, you're wondering why I wrote the first part this way, you'll now in the next chapter. But at least you already have a slight idea on how this will come out, he-he. Once again, I'm looking for BETA READERS for the English version. Thanks a lot!)